I'm a 38 y/o female.
I was diagnosed with asthma as a kid.
Current meds Soprobec 200 two puffs AM, two puffs PM, ventolin as needed.
I moved into this flat in 2022, was fine before I moved and to begin with, then I developed worsening asthma symptoms as the months went on. I spent ages trying to fathom out the possible cause. I found no sign of mold or anything like that. then found out tobacco smoke from the man downstairs was coming into mine, it's been so bad on a couple of occasions my bathroom has 'fogged up' with smoke. I have tried everything, including having the council works department out to see if we could seal up any gaps etc, nope, no way of stopping it. He seems to vanish for long periods of time, leaving his flat empty. During these periods, my asthma symptoms vanish completely.
In response to my worsening asthma symptoms, in Jan 2024 the asthma nurses at my surgery decided to increase my ICS dose of Beclomethasone from 400mg a day to 800mg a day. Now I have high functioning Autism on top of all this, I am far from dumb or stupid, but anything to do with numbers seems to go over my head a lot of the time, even though I am better at maths now, amounts of things can still flummox me.
NOBODY told me this was considered a moderate to high dose and I should be carrying a steroid warning card, nobody, not once. I wrongly guessed it was only a few mg more than the soprobec 100 I was on. The Soprobec 100 was two puffs am, two puffs pm.
Now, since I have been on the Soprobec 200 at 800mg a day, I have developed some extreme and very disruptive possible side effects.
All possible other causes of these symptoms just got ruled out in a complete bloodwork which included diabetes, hypercalcemia, thyroid and iron deficiency, which are all possible causes of the things I have listed below, all tests have come back requiring no further action.
These are:
EXTREME, unquenchable thirst. I am drinking easily over four liters of water per day. I am also waking up several times a night for a drink, and if I go out I must carry water with me otherwise the thirst is VERY distressing. I feel dehydrated on a 'cellular level', like it doesn't matter how much I drink, I feel thirsty WHILE drinking water!.
Fatigue so bad I can hardly get up out of my chair most days and I am asleep by 9pm, where before I would like to chill with my dog watching a film or something till about 12pm. I have gone from waking literal miles through local fields and woodland with my dog, to barely being able to take her on the local park which is only across the road. I hardly ever go out, and if I do, I suffer immensely as my muscles start aching. I live upstairs and I am struggling getting up the stairs.
It feels as if I have lost all muscle tone all over my body. I no longer feel safe walking my dog as she is med size mastiff cross who is quite strong, she has almost pulled me over at times and I cannot even lift my kitchen bin bag or the laundry basket, I have NEVER had this problem before.
I have lost my appetite and have to force myself to eat every meal, often taking hours rather than minutes.
Episodes of vaginal thrush, something I have NOT had for YEARS, started when I went on this high dose of ICS.
My once 'perfect' periods are now very heavy and irregular.
I feel more angry than before. I had to seriously check my anger levels in my adult years, and developed a much more patient and stoical outlook to life, which brought my stress levels down massively. Since I went on this inhaler I have been snapping at people again, including my own family :(
Tingling hands. This can come on anytime, never had it before the inhaler.
A terrible hoarse voice and it feels like my voice is getting deeper and I am starting to sound 'male' other people have noticed this too.
Profuse sweating on my hands and feet. My hands DRIP with sweat, to the point I hide them from people. Never happened before this inhaler.
Salt and red meat cravings. I am not a big fan of either, and due to heart problems in the family I keep my salt intake low. Other day I just felt compelled to walk into the local coop and buy pork loins and a pack of beef biltong, things I haven't eaten in many moons. I recall saying to myself 'this is SO out of character for you'.
Episodes of nausea, two episodes of vomiting in the morning over two months (not preggers before anyone asks lol) which were not related to anything I had eaten.
Dizzy spells and almost fainting, usually happens if I push myself to do even basic stuff like household chores, which I usually enjoy doing.
I know these are listed as 'rare' side effects, but unusual thirst, tiredness and weakness is mentioned both in the patient info leaflet with the inhaler, and in various other information regarding side effects, such as this article: https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/corticosteroid-inhalation-route/side-effects/drg-20070533?p=1
I take the inhaler via a spacer, my technique is good, I've been doing this whole asthma game all my life, so I am pretty ofay with it all now lol.
I have had a battle over this inhaler with my GP and other asthma services as well. They just do NOT believe ICS can have systemic side effects, in contradiction to what the drug manufacturers say on the leaflet. I think I am going to have to go back to the GP and stand up for myself, which is not something I am good at at all, and present them with this information leaflet, which actually tells you to consult your doctor if you develop any of them!.
Would it be worth asking to try the same dose, as I do not want to risk withdrawal, I have experienced this before from ICS, but on a different steroid with a different inhaler?.
Is there any more bloodwork I could ask for, perhaps adrenal function or cortisol levels?.
I am at a loss, I need to control my asthma, but I also need to be able to live!.
Thank you for taking time to read this, I hope everyone is well and your asthma leaves you alone to enjoy the summer!. :)

Hi everyone,
Wondering if anyone is in a similar position? 42, F, fit, no prior health issues. Since January I have been short of breath, mostly an air hunger feeling, can't get a deep breath. Does not get exacerbated by exercise. At first it followed a bit of a pattern where I will have a week of mild SOB then a week of intense symptoms (tight chest, throat, really hard to breathe) and this will affect my sleeping as it's particularly bad at night. I was put on steroids for this. Then after a week I'll start sleeping better and gradually improve, only for the cycle to start again.
I've been on a steroid inhaler since January and Ventolin as needed. The last few weeks it has been steady meaning not getting better or worse. Still feeling that air hunger but not needing the rescue inhaler.
At first Doctor said reactive airways ( I experienced something similar 12 and 14 years ago but only for a short time). However due to the length and severity of some of my symptoms he sent me for lung function test which I will get the results Tuesday for possible asthma diagnosis. Blood tests were fine and chest x-ray clear when I had them done in January. Also cleared for common allergies like pollen, dust mites, animal dander etc. I'm also waiting on results of further blood tests for hormones, H pylori, iron deficiency and a host of other things.
The problem is despite keeping a food diary and tracking where I have been I can not pinpoint what is actually causing this. Doctor said sometimes it's unknown, could be the pollution in the air, effects of secondhand cigarette smoke (child of the 80/90s where smoking was permitted in pubs etc).
In trying to narrow things down I am left with possibly:
-Silent reflux (no symptoms of GERD, except occasional bloating) -Anxiety ( I don't feel anxious, well I didn't until this all started ) -Allergies ( food or other wise) -Nose breathing issues possibly drying out my airways through mouth breathing esp during sleep (I broke my nose quite badly in December, had it fixed back into place but septum is still clearly deviated). I have been practicing nose breathing. -unknown ( cold air or something else) -viral
I am anxious that I don't know if/when this will ever get better and what to avoid to minimise severity of symptoms. I've lost 4 kg since January with the stress of it and loss of appetite when it's at its worse.
Anyone else in the position where they don't know their triggers?
Thanks for listening to my story.

What's the best ALBUTEROL rescue inhaler? I have used many different ones, but I would like to hear your feedback, whether it is about ProAir, Proventil, Ventolin, Xopenex, etc.

I own 2 different asthma inhalers, Xopenex HFA (Levalbuterol Tartrate), and Ventolin HFA (Albuterol Sulfate) I usually keep the Xopenex inhaler on my desk, and I have the Ventolin inhaler as an extra. Is it ok to take/inhale both of these medications?

I was brought to the hospital today after fainting. I have a bad cough, shortness of breath, a rash, lightheadedness and a headache.
Doctors put me in resus, gave me epinephrine , saline and I have a nasal tube with oxygen on.
I feel a bit better but I’m coughing a lot.
The doctor called out to bring a anaesthesiologist down but I don’t understand why. I tried to ask but he just said because of my breathing. I don’t really understand.
I feel a bit better now. I haven’t seen my doctors for a little bit so maybe things will change but I’m just a bit nervous because there’s so many machines.
https://imgur.com/a/B591djz
I have asthma and take trilogy inhaler, ventolin and Montelukast. And I am taking quetiapine aswell at night to sleep. I am 30 female

My childhood was extremely dysfunctional but thank you for talking to me about resilience while I was in a psychotic episode.
You spoke to me like I mattered and you didn't treat me any differently when I told you I had BPD.
You calmed me down from my panic attack (the most severest one I've had yet)
You were sensitive and didn't shame me for my panic.
You were respectful of my privacy (I had to call emergency because I was having an asthma attack while shitting and it triggered a panic attack)
You guided me through inhaling my ventolin.
You motivated me in having confidence to call for help with my asthma/panic/anaphylaxis in the future.. (I was passively suicidal and thought that I wasn't worth saving so I would just hope that my health issues would take me)..
It's been a few months since then. When I start feeling down I think back to that talk about resilience, strength, and compassion for the self. I keep a little book about resilience in my bag everywhere I go.
Thank you to everybody out there saving lives.
You guys truly do make a difference!

Hi folks! I’ve been taking Vyvanse 30mg for a few weeks now and it’s been really great for me - absolutely squished my (usually health) anxiety during the day, more energy, more focus. So far it's been great and minimal side effects (dry mouth, no appetite, headaches first few days.)
However, in the evenings when it technically should be the most worn off, I end up noticing air hunger and anxiety and clenching my jaw. Air hunger is like my #1 anxiety symptom - I’ll often feel like I can’t take a proper breath and I don’t know if I even breathe properly (as in deeply) anymore due to years of anxiety.
Last week though at a soccer game however (where I do have some very minor exercise induced asthma, which is usually just a bit of tightness and controlled by two pre-game puffs of my inhaler) I had a pretty bad asthma attack where my throat seized and then a REALLY bad panic attack afterwards (worse than I’ve had in years as my anxiety is semi controlled). To be fair, I hadn't had a chance to eat prior to the game so was likely low on protein, and had had a stressful day, then had about 8 pumps of Ventolin which does often leave me a bit shaky, so I do think it was probably a mix of things as I have been fine at my other soccer games so far. But, I don't normally have full asthma attacks, my asthma only really started when my anxiety did (years ago!) and I’m honestly not totally sure if I had one or just a panic attack induced by a short wheeze.
I'm finding I'm short of breath in the evenings, but I've had that sensation/problem (general shortness of breath which I think is due to anxiety) long before Vyvanse, and so I suspect this is just because I'm paying attention to it once the drugs wear off? If I distract myself for long enough I usually stop noticing it, but it isn't great. I’m going to see my GP and do some further asthma tests to rule that out, but wondering if anyone experienced a similar thing with anxiety and air hunger in the evenings, especially if you had anxiety pre-ADHD diag.

Alien-Nation Chapter 202: Property Damage

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Chapter Summary:

Morsh breaks Goshen's omni-pad to wipe anything incriminating she might've gotten out of her interrogation targets, then they have good conversations with Amilita
Oh, and Elias Wakes up
The borrowed fleet car was a far cry from a noblewoman's private vehicle. Even at full acceleration, it lagged far behind the ambulance, until it had disappeared from view. Finally, they found a building that seemed far too tall to be made of brick, with square windows and white curtains.
"This is it," Natalie confirmed, pointing at the "H" on the roof.
"You're sure it's not that one?"
"It's still under construction, see?" She pointed at the construction equipment, and now that Morsh squinted she could see that the far corner was still unfinished. She grunted unhappily and started to approach the small rooftop landing pad.
"Fleet car 117, please go to visitor parking," traffic control spoke through the fleet car's speakers, and the heads' up display highlighted the part where another officer car was already headed toward. Probably Amilita.
"This is Nataliska of house Rakten, we have business with the occupant of that patient. We will be setting down on the roof."
"Helipad is not for visitors," the accented trade shil repeated herself. "Please do not go."
Nataliska leaned forward and flicked off the comms, and Morsh guided the fleet car to the 'Helipad' and set down next to the already-empty ambulance.
She hopped from the car and sprinted to the main door. "Come on." The door from the roof was locked, however, and when Morsh gave it a more firm tug, it popped the handle clean off.
"Now what?" Nataliska asked, but before Morsh could even think to answer the girl was already in motion, thin and dexterous fingers finding a part of steel in the ripped apart internals to peel back, the latch opening with a click.
"Nice work," she complimented her ward for her persistence.
She may have celebrated too early, because they now found themselves lost in the bowels of the alien building. Nataliska seemed to move with a purpose, though, pressing a button, and a lift opened.
Going down a couple floors in a box that felt entirely too shaky for Morsh's liking opened, only to find themselves immediately lost as the doors opened. The staff milling about wore various colored uniforms, probably meant to indicate something about their speciality, though Morsh saw no bloodstains or helpful lettering to guide the unfamiliar.
"Where to?" Nataliska asked, uncertainly.
Morsh was increasingly sure that hospitals served a secret universal purpose: To hide away anyone suffering in a maze that only employees could solve. Whether on-board the depths of a warship, a space station, planetside on an embattled world, or even in an alien-constructed, retrofitted building, she always got lost whenever she found herself in one.
"Hey, I can't read this stuff," Morsh waved a hand at the alien lettering and raised her omni-pad, letting it translate what text it saw. It took a couple times of double-checking, counting the third one from the top. "This one says 'child-medicine.' Is Elias still considered a child?"
"Pediatrics?" Nataliska sounded the human word out.
Morsh squinted at her omni-pad, and then back at the sign. "I think so?"
The bodyguard loathed the insurgency for the delays they'd caused. Had it not been for them, then she wouldn't be stuck navigating these hallways, and the new hospital next door would be finished already. At least something about this place would be familiar.
"I think we follow these colored lines on the wall. It's the same color as the sign."
"Alright," it was as good an idea as any, and they went around the corner to find a waiting room.
"Let's try one of the attendants?" Nataliska suggested, striding forward before Morsh could ask her to wait. The woman behind the desk had the sagging skin of someone from a high-gravity world, though at least they had the tendency to be stocky, but strong. Yet she seemed almost too round for her chair, bloated underneath the strange mottling that ran up her exposed arms and lower neck. She frowned from behind her thick-framed glasses at the pair of approaching shil'vati. Morsh sensed some vague hostility, but the woman certainly also seemed utterly impotent, so she filed it away as a triviality and instead took the room's surroundings, gauging the others in it. No one in the waiting room seemed particularly dangerous, though they were all keeping their distance.
Nataliska leaned forward. "Hi," she used the human greeting, though Morsh realized she'd forgotten to activate her translator and missed the next bunch of words. By the time she'd gotten it online, she'd missed everything except "Elias Sampson."
The blank stare returned showed no more understanding than Morsh had of what Nataliska had just said.
"I need to see Elias Sampson," Nataliska tried again. "He was taken here. He was hurt badly. He's my friend, and I need to check in on him." She tapped hurriedly on her omni-pad, and then smiled, pointing at a photo of him she'd taken. The woman glanced at the screen with disinterest, and then huffed.
"Try the Emergency Ward, or maybe surgery," was the only answer they got before the strangely-shaped woman started to rise from her desk.
"Where's that?" Nataliska's patience was obviously running thin.
"East wing. * " The woman finished standing from her desk and waddled away from the glass partition before either of them could ask where the 'East Wing*' was.
"Thank you!" Natalie said, always polite.
"Now what?"
"We find the East Wing." Natalie glanced at the window. "It's...uh...evening, so, away from there. That means..." she pointed, and started down the hallways.
Morsh shook her head. This felt like it was getting them nowhere. Worse, they quickly found dead-ends where they couldn't proceed through without a pass of some sort- and no one seemed to come along the particular hall that they'd gone down so they could follow them inside to get further east. Nataliska had insisted Morsh not put a shoulder to the locked door- avoiding incidents seemed to be a priority.
Eventually a nurse wearing blue scrubs rounded the corner, and started to double-back when Morsh decided she'd had enough of being made to wander aimlessly and flanked the human, cutting off her retreat.
Nataliska brought her omni-pad back up again, pointing at the picture. "Elias Sampson- sorry, I should start over. Do you know where surgery is, or perhaps the emergency room? East Wing?"
The nurse studied the picture for a few seconds longer than the secretary had, and then looked at Nataliska for a couple more, as if thinking about what to say in response. "Ask her to guide us," Morsh suggested, the translator speaking her own words back out for her before she shut off its speaker. "That way if she's thinking of misdirecting us, at least she's wasting her time, too," she added.
"Why would she do that?" Nataliska asked.
*"I'm sorry, are you next of kin or family?" *The nurse asked dutifully.
"Well, no, but I'm a noblewoman, and he was hurt badly. I ask that you aid us. It's very important that I'm there when he wakes up."
The corners of her mouth dipped slightly lower. "I see. Are you listed as his emergency contact?"
"Please. It's important."
"Of course it is. I'm going to have to ask your name."
"Nataliska of house Rakten. I'm right here-" she began scrolling through the photos, until she found one of the two of them side-by-side. "See?" This time the nurse didn't even bother looking.
"Sampson...tell you what, wait here, and I'll go check the emergency contact list-"
The nurse's indirect refusals to give any straight answers only ended when their demands were joined by the huffing arrival of the Lieutenant Colonel.
"Sorry. I was just setting up a place to work from when I saw you walk by," she said, panting the words out, and gauging the situation.
Morsh was tired of hearing the girl repeat herself in asking, and decided to speak the inevitable question for her. "Where's Elias? We've been trying to find him."
Amilita turned to the nurse they'd cornered, and activated her translator. "Please show them to the patient's room. I'm General Amilita, Acting commander of the Delaware Garrison." The woman paled slightly, and Morsh switched off her translator halfway through repeating Amilita's translator's English back into Shil'vati.
"Of course, ma'am," the woman said in trade shil'. And just like that, the three of them were off with a guide, though Amilita peeled off the group after only a few dozen steps.
What a strange inversion it was when a combined noblewoman's title and presence of a bodyguard couldn't get the respect a military uniform apparently commanded here.
"This is the room," Nataliska relayed for the Nurse, who immediately scampered off. The door opened, revealing a nurse who was as startled to see them as the first nurse had been, and Nataliska started drilling her with rapid-fire questions. The new Nurse was surprised that the shil'vati girl was fluent in English, and answered each question quickly, if shortly. Morsh switched back on her translator, but it was already too late to catch most of it.
When Nataliska had apparently finished her questions, Morsh let the nurse slip past and leaned in. "So? What'd you learn?"
"He's 'stable,' whatever that means, and has been sedated for his own good." She sighed. "I guess I'll go into the room, and talk with the doctors attending. Maybe they know when he can be woken up." She took a second to think. "I wonder what machines they used to use to bring people out of comas." Then she smiled a little bit- the first one she'd had in a while. "I wonder if they just slapped or shook their patients? Or was it a really loud noise? Do you think there's a prescribed one that they'd always use?"
She tried the handle, the question clearly on the tip of her tusk.
Except there was no one to ask. The room had been left empty, with just Elias laying there unconscious. The boy had filled out since the early days, when the newly-minted 'Natalie' had confessed she'd found a boy to finally talk and sit alone with, then proudly showing off a photo she'd snuck. He'd looked almost malnourished, waifish then. Now, laying still in the cot, despite all the lean muscle he'd put on through maturing, he looked no less vulnerable. The various faces he wore with such an intense focus and force of will were gone, leaving a vacant expression she'd never thought she'd see him wear. The planet could think what it wanted about boys and what they were supposed to be- the reality was they were still boys. No amount of arguing would ever make her feel anything other than a twist in the gut, and a feeling that something had gone horribly wrong.
The staff hadn't even a doc bot left in the room to keep an eye. There were distant squeaks of shoes on the shiny surface that humans loved to floor their interiors with, muted conversations drifting down the hallways, but only a few people milling about. Whatever the doctors had done, they felt they'd finished their work and cleared out.
"So, what now?" Morsh asked.
"We could wait?" Nataliska suggested, trying to hide how nervous she was. "I mean, maybe he'll wake up on his own? Or they're getting one of those machines I saw on TV."
"What machine?" Morsh asked.
"Well, when the person's asleep, then someone gets a machine that makes a whining noise." Suddenly, Natalie got quiet.
"And then what?"
"...then they rip open the guy's shirt, and uh, it's not what you think! They put their hands on it- his chest- the part where his heart is, I mean. And they put these metal pads on him, and someone says 'clear' and then he wakes up with a jolt."
"Uh-huh. And they just put this on TV, for anyone to see?"
"It's not like that! It's a legitimate medical procedure!"
"The nurse didn't say anything at all about that? Like, not even a rough idea on if that's what they're going to do, or when they're going to be back?"
Nataliska shrugged helplessly. "No, not really. I could wait with him? Or at least keep an eye over him, and ask anyone that comes by."
"Might be smart," Morsh agreed. "I'll stand guard. Want me to close the door? I know he doesn't like me all that much ever since the, well, you know. Everything."
"Thanks," she said. "I'm just worried about being seen alone with a boy behind a closed door."
"Come on, it's you two. Whatever went on, no one else knows about you crying in your room for days on end. I'll leave the two of you to chat alone and sort things out."
"Thanks, Morsh. You're the best. It's fine though, you can leave the door open for now, and I want to stay here, just in case." She walked in and pulled the chair up alongside the bed and gave the bodyguard a slight smile.
The bodyguard felt the minutes tick by. It bothered her that he'd been dumped there without so much as an attendant, with all manner of wires and human machines watching him in their stead. Pathetic. At least the room had an actual door and glass windows, curtained for privacy. It seemed they were very short-staffed, but that did keep her job of watching for threats simpler, and having to defend just the one point of entry made life easy. She idly tapped her pocket to make sure she still had that crucial object before an idea worked its way into her head.
She knocked on the doorframe, and Nataliska raised her head from her omni-pad.
"Kid, you're okay to take over guarding him for a bit?" Morsh asked.
"Huh?" She asked, standing and coming up to the door.
Morsh handed Nataliska her pistol. "I've gotta take a leak." The eyes of a nurse who wandered by were as large as saucers at the sight of the weapon, and she hurried her footsteps away from the pair.
"Uh...yeah," Nataliska answered, fumbling the grip for a moment. She started to stare at it and look down the barrel before Morsh pushed the tip down at the floor, making eye contact.
"That part faces whatever you want to kill," Morsh reminded her young ward, feeling a sudden sense of unease about leaving the same girl she'd just chewed out over acting before thinking alone with a pistol. One that Morsh clearly needed to actually teach her to use, too.
"How do I...?" Nataliska asked nervously, almost fumbling the pistol as she tried to hold it out for her bodyguard to inspect.
"The safety's on. This button here. Actually, you know what? Here. Take the knife. Don't use it unless you have to." The swap was quick, and Morsh felt the reassuring feel of her custom laspistol on her thigh once it had settled back into its quickdraw holster.
"Um..." the girl hesitated. Morsh prayed she didn't need to tell her which end to stick a threat with. Then again, common sense with nobles was like oxygen. The higher up someone went, the rarer it was to find.
"Just for a second. If you need me, press the panic button on your omni-pad, and hold them off with the knife until then. You understand?"
"I understand," she echoed, inching closer to the door, as if already imagining someone trying to sneak past her.
Morsh felt the unfamiliar bulge shift in her pocket as she made her way down the hall. The old human hospital with alien writing on the wall still threatened to misdirect her from the point where she'd seen a particular sign. It took only a couple turns she'd committed to remembering before she came across it again. She pushed open the double-doors and took in the enormous room, pleased with herself that it was almost certainly what she'd hoped it would be.
The small technician lady stood from behind her desk, itself separated with its own wall. Morsh let out a low whistle from between her tusks. "Whew, that is a big machine you have in there." She squinted exaggeratedly. "Not a lot of wiggle room for a patient, though," she muttered as if in contemplation. "Gotta have some courage to crawl in there and be treated here, I gotta admit. Say, Doc, you know I left my knife behind. And this thing here- well, let's just pretend it's not here at all," she tapped her holster, before fishing out and tossing the omni-pad she'd pickpocketed off Amilita into the center hole, watching in fascination how its course changed before sticking fast to one of the inner walls, defying gravity. "So, why don't you turn on that machine for me? It's that magnetic...uh...thing."
She glanced down at the workstation the woman was at, and noted the various pieces of metal arrayed on the desk. Her laspistol should be safe here- or at least better here than in Nataliska's shaky hands.
"Magnetic Resonance Imager, and I think that would be a very bad idea. It would-" she eyed Morsh with increasing alarm as the bodyguard strode closer until she leaned over the woman, leering.
"I didn't ask what you thought."
Swallowing nervously, the much smaller woman started trying to explain what it was in the crudest trade shil, stumbling over her words.
"Didn't ask what it was, either, I said turn it on." The little woman's babbling ceased, and she quaked where she stood. "Do it, or trust me, you'll need more than whatever it can do for you."
The woman finally did as she was told, and the omni-pad began to promptly bang around the inside, until with a final, terrifying crack it went silent, and a warning chime sounded.
The woman let out a wail of distress and then stared balefully up at Morsh in a very: See? I told you so! gaze, as if missing the entire point. Morsh only let out a low whistle after she pulled open the door. Some people just could not be shown a good time or anything neat. The omni-pad was now stuck fast to the inner wall of the circular device, having punched a hole right through the plastic. "Do you have any idea how much that cost? This hospital has one of those, and parts for it- I don't even know where-"
Morsh pried the omni-pad loose, having to brace herself against it and pull with all her strength and then tested to see if it would switch on, noting with some satisfaction that it was certainly wiped of whatever it contained. She'd held corpses of comrades with more life left in them.
"Bill us."
Besides, how useful could the machine still be in this day and age? Morsh shook her head. Humans could keep their sentimentality and attachment to outdated tools. She'd prefer a doc bot any day to the confinement chamber.
She came back to find the situation outside Elias's room more or less as she'd left it and patted her ward on the shoulder after retaking possession of the knife with a genuinely relieved sigh.
"Sorry about that, I've been holding it in since I broke orbit. No visitors?"
Nataliska shook her head. Morsh sighed. "Then we're probably going to be here a while. But you know who isn't, and I suggest you go settle things with? Amilita."
"But, what if he-"
"I'll message you immediately," she promised. "Now, go, before he does wake up and you're still not back."
That got the girl moving, Morsh noted with some satisfaction.

Settlement

The hospital smelled. None of the scents were familiar to her, some of them were even superficially pleasant, and she imagined she might even enjoy the cleansers or aerosol sprays used to disinfect if she shut her eyes to relieve them from the long, harsh blue lights and imagine a breeze or spring. Oh, to close one's eyes and pretend the world isn't what it is.
Natalie was reluctant to leave Elias's side but Morsh was right. She had to talk with Amilita.
It took a few tries, but she eventually was directed to the same hallway she'd been in before. She stopped at the open doorway to see that the giantess had taken over an empty storeroom and made it into a temporary office headquarters, resignedly signing off orders from her wrist-pad in rapid-fire motions. The rings under the old family friend's eyes were visible even through the semi-transparent image of her wrist-pad. When she shifted her focus and noticed the young noblewoman snooping at the threshold, Amilita stood to greet her before then ducking her head in a sign of respect and submission to the authority Natalie wielded, something Amilita had only done for her mother.
"I hear Morsh has been busy protecting the boy's privacy." The words were offered plainly and left for Natalie to determine how they were meant. She'd had enough of assuming the better of people after today.
"That's right, I stationed Morsh there. I hope that isn't going to be a problem."
Amilita put her hands up, showing off the white bandages taped around her knuckles as fresh flesh grew back underneath, "No, not at all. I've even requested the boy's medical files not be updated to reflect his recent visit here." With her other hand, she tapped a small stack of printed out papers.
Natalie blinked at the news. "Why?"
"His death would have been framed by Goshen as a suicide," she muttered.
"What? How? That's ridiculous. He was kidnapped!"
"I know," Amilita poked a finger at the gauze to again emphasize what she'd done at the sight. "Perhaps I ought to explain how I found him. He was hanging by his belt, dangling from a pipe. When I carried him out, he was barely breathing from asphyxiation and with marks on his neck. From what I can tell, they used the doc bot to check the airway and noted no spinal fractures. What matters is that these notes only include injuries, not their context." Natalie already knew from his treatment at school that he'd have a history of bruising, swelling, and cuts. Injuries she now understood why he'd wanted to treat on his own, rather than potentially hand information over. As she considered the implications, Amilita cleared her throat, lowering her hand. "What have you heard about when boys attempt suicide, Nataliska?"
"Uh, well..." she didn't want to appear ignorant, but she knew it wasn't exactly common. "I hear they choose quiet methods? I guess it's so wives won't try and stop them?"
"Usually it's described as a cry for help. When a boy threatens it, it's as a desperate gambit to force his terrible wives to release him. The women either lose him and are forever known and outed as husband-killers and neglectful. Or they take him to the hospital and at least avoid the 'boy-killer' charges. Threatening suicide is the final move of the truly desperate."
"Wasn't he desperate, though?" She felt she was missing something.
"What do those women who were in his life say in their defense, though? And remember, the medical records will leave Goshen out. It's just his injuries that are left in."
Natalie blinked. "Well, I guess they don't just confess?"
The officer's tone turned weary and she seemed to deflate some at Natalie's lack of answer. "I don't know if it's because I've been spending too much time around the wrong people, or if I'm suddenly sensitive to it after having a son. People always say about boys who attempt suicide: 'He couldn't handle it.' That he couldn't take the prospect of a life of housework and the pressures of fatherhood, which is always said to be easy. That, or he felt he couldn't compete with the pressures of acting like and being treated as a woman if he had a job." Amilita bit her lip. "I don't want that said about Elias- they won't know about the circumstances of the kidnapping, or anything else."
The young noble bristled, some heat entering her voice, "The trial should be easy enough to point back to. It doesn't matter if they dig it up."
"You can't appeal decisions on admittance or acceptance to a future job if they never even tell you they dug so deep into your past in the first place. I worry that if I step in and demand the circumstances be included, it'll be so unusual that people will still doubt him. They'll think I pulled strings. If you do it, they'll think you're doing the same, all to protect him. See the problem? We can't add it. So it is for the best that this stays off his record completely. We made sure we're not burying him physically, and now I'm making sure we're not burying his future." She inhaled, and then looked Natalie in the eyes. "I'm fine with the only record being in your hands, holding it in trust for him to decide if he wants to re-enter it into his medical history or not." She broke her eye contact and tapped the small stack of papers meaningfully. "I'm asking that you respect his privacy, because I have a duty to enter these into his record. But if they happen to go wandering, well, it's for the better then. I just ask that you...not share these to the datanet." She added the last part quietly.
Natalie nodded mutely. Her mouth opened, but no noise escaped at first. It took several moments to process that he possibly had been willing to kill himself to keep her family secret buried. Elias, You helped me when I told you my family's secret and Myrrah came to us. I ran and wasn't there to help when someone came to you over yours. There's still at least one more thing I can do.
"If the record is left out, would that help Goshen's case? I mean...what if she isn't punished for this?"
"My personal testimony could condemn her by itself, and you still retain the physical medical record. Not to mention you could weigh in, and so could he, and it would remain out of any record or background check. Besides, Goshen's cuffed to a bed in the commoner ward, and I doubt she'll live much longer."
"You almost killed her?"
"Well, I wasn't gentle," Amilita admitted, not at all bothered by the admission. "But, no, she is seen as the one responsible for the loss of the noblewomen. The fleet and Nobles don't want to pin the loss of three system lady matriarchs on a martyr. Especially when one of them's a scioness of the Maudalenti family- you wouldn't know them but they're renowned for their brave military service."
Natalie's head spun. She'd actually heard of that family. "Why was he able to take so many of such high stature?"
"It takes considerable power or favor to bully one's way onto this world, past all the secrecy and safety demands, and even more to get to enjoy a pleasant time in a green zone. So naturally, almost all of them had it in spades. Enough to where their families could afford to chase Goshen to the ends of the Galaxy to make an example of her if they wanted, and I suspect greatly that they do. Even in the Delaware barracks, they're furious at Goshen for losing the Marine hostages, and ordering repeated long charges over open terrain against railguns. There's no state I can transfer her to, thanks to all the borrowed troops. There's hardly any that I can think of that didn't lose at least a pod or two. The sad reality is Galatea Goshen hasn't a friend left in the galaxy, let alone one here who can stand up to all that. Normally when this many interested parties want someone in uniform to be hung up by her ears the officers are able to close ranks and stop them, but for the life of me I can't imagine why anyone would. Azraea is thought to have died because Goshen couldn't get the job done." Then she sighed and looked skyward. "Even the Goddesses would abandon her now. The warrior Goddess Krek was bloodthirsty and loyal, but she would have hated the senseless casualties Goshen pushed for. And now, even I'm abandoning her over what she did to Elias." Her eyes drifted back down to meet Natalie's. "Do you understand what I'm saying? She's unlikely to live to see a trial."
She was laying Goshen out on a line.
"'Justice will be done'," Natalie promised, quoting an ancient tome carved into stone, weathered away by sea spray in the millennia since. Amilita hung her head ever so slightly deeper. Natalie shouldn't tip her hand, she knew, but then again Amilita also dared not interfere.
"Do you know when he'll wake up?"
"No," she said. "They sedated him on the flight over, apparently for his own protection, and it won't last. I'm told this may be a polite way of saying that he attacked them."
She blinked and started to stand up, "Then if you'll excuse me, I need to watch over him."
"Of course," Amilita almost whispered. "I'm sorry," so quiet and tender the words could hardly be said to have come from someone of Amilita's rank and physical stature.

Living Dead Boy

Natalie returned to find that an unknown Marine had joined Morsh near Elias's door, the former staying a respectful distance across the hallway. She wore a darker blue patch, indicating she wasn't here from Delaware's garrison. She strode right past Morsh, who made a point of shutting the door behind her.
Natalie stared at the stack of papers on the small table next to the chair she waited in, her gaze wandering about the room listlessly, coming once more to fall on its sole occupant
His chest rose and fell steadily, with an annoying 'beep' repeating at a constant interval indicating he was being monitored in at least some sense. His clothing was disheveled, like when she'd first met him.
She turned on her omni-pad, and sent a panoramic photo of the room to her mom, not even managing a smile. Just giving you an update. I don't know much. Watching the doctors, when they come in. Don't show anyone, obviously. It felt strange to even have to ask such a courtesy.
The message back was immediate: How much would I need to pay to have one here, just to answer my questions and look over Elias, and not just disappear somewhere else at random times?
The medical staff had wielded immense power, even in the face of a noble name. It reminded her more of a cult than a proper medical institution. Still, on Earth, most services seemed to have a price, even things that were held sacred. Thanks to the exchange rate the price was often rather pitiably small, surely, one doctor wouldn't take too much.
She was about to respond with a rough estimate when she thought she saw him stir, though it might have just been the sheet settling.
"Elias?" She asked, leaning over and placing her hand gently on his forearm, only for him to jerk awake and slap her hand off.
He had been stirring slowly, then more quickly and feverishly until he began kicking his legs, yanking the carefully tucked bed sheets out of where they were pressed and tangling them around his feet. The beeping had grown to a frantic and erratic pace, and a tone began to blare as he ripped something off his finger.
"Elias, calm down!"
Instead, he swung his legs out from the hospital bed and tried to push himself off of the bed and to the door, instead going down in a heap as the little white sheet slid on the slick floor. He let out a slight cry of pained alarm that would wrench at any woman's heart. Bright eyes wide and wild, he lay there for a second or two, and Natalie hesitated. She couldn't help but feel responsible in some way for the pain he was in, and so she backed off, and instead crouched down, showing her empty palms.
"Hey, hey, it's okay," Natalie tried to soothe him, though he glanced over her shoulder at the exit, then around the room as her words sank in and he met her eyes- just for a moment, before he paused and gave her a second glance. "Natalie?" He rubbed at his eyes. "Sorry, everything was a bit blurry for a second there..."
The momentary expression of relief that settled over her was shattered when the door was suddenly shoved open, knocking Natalie forward and toward Elias, and then everyone began screaming at each other, all at the same time.
The poor Nurse let out a shriek of terror as Morsh pulled the hapless woman sprawling back out of the doorway by her fabric collar, legs and hands in the air as she slid.
Natalie tried to shield Elias's crouched form while finally cutting through everyone else's screaming with a simple command: 'Get out!' Elias was trying to push past her, but she couldn't let him run, she'd just found him! Then Morsh tried to step through the door, saying something about how an alert had gone off. Elias had half blocked her off with his body and gotten into some semblance of a fighting stance, and was now trying to protect Natalie from her own bodyguard. Each of them was blundering through trying to protect each other, but the chaos of the situation ensured that none succeeded at anything but getting in each other's way.
"Get OUT!" Natalie roared again. Morsh knew when to pick her battles, and when to follow orders, and slammed the door shut so hard it hurt her ears. Angry voices on the other side went back and forth, but Natalie pushed herself against the frame, even as the newly-conscious Elias gathered himself up and met her eyes.
All Chapters of Alien-Nation
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Author's Notes:
Also, good news. My father's made it through his surgery! A lot of stress taken off. He is in good health, and good spirits. Editor is progressing through what is occupying him. I would like to thank Guardsman Miku and Tumbleman for their efforts in helping with the editing.
Archive Of Our Own contains the latest version of Alien-Nation with a lot of added scenes, flow improvements, and so on. (You can also download the story as an ePub for reading on your personal device, if you feel like doing so, though I recommend waiting until Book One is truly finished.)
Link to Archive Version here:

This is a thorough manual for both newcomers and experienced hobbyists. It covers essential supplies, advanced techniques, base-coating, layering, color theory, and finishing touches. Transform simple miniatures into captivating works of art and elevate your painting skills to new heights.

Gathering Supplies

Begin your journey into miniature painting by gathering a few essential supplies. Start with simpler models to hone your skills before moving on to more complex ones. Opt for acrylic paints made specifically for miniatures, as they offer good adherence and a diverse color range. Invest in a range of brushes, including fine detail brushes for intricate work and broader brushes for base-coating. Don't forget a palette for paint mixing, a suitable primer, and prepared miniatures.

Preparing Your Workspace

To ensure quality painting, maintain a clean and organized workspace to avoid dust and debris spoiling your work. Use good lighting, like a daylight lamp or lightbox, for effective illumination. Ventilate adequately, particularly when using aerosol primers or sealers, to prevent inhaling fumes.

Basic Techniques

To achieve excellence in miniature painting, mastering fundamental techniques is crucial. Begin by applying a smooth base coat of paint, ensuring complete coverage. Gradually build up colors through layering for depth and highlighting. Use washes or inks to add shadows and define recessed areas. Employ drybrushing to enhance raised details and textures with minimal paint. Lastly, employ fine brushes for detailing intricate elements such as eyes, insignia, and patterns.

Color Theory and Composition

Learn color theory to create visually appealing miniatures. Mix and blend colors effectively for the desired shades and tones. Choose harmonizing color schemes aligned with your miniature's theme. Consider composition elements like balance, contrast, and focal points for a visually striking result.

Finishing Touches

After completing the painting of your miniatures, apply a protective varnish to safeguard them. Create bases with materials like sand or gravel to enhance their appearance. Add details such as static grass, rocks, or decals for a more realistic look. Finally, proudly display your finished miniatures in a display case or on a dedicated shelf to showcase your painting skills.
This is a thorough manual for both newcomers and experienced hobbyists. It covers essential supplies, advanced techniques, base-coating, layering, color theory, and finishing touches. Transform simple miniatures into captivating works of art and elevate your painting skills to new heights.

Gathering Supplies

Begin your journey into miniature painting by gathering a few essential supplies. Start with simpler models to hone your skills before moving on to more complex ones. Opt for acrylic paints made specifically for miniatures, as they offer good adherence and a diverse color range. Invest in a range of brushes, including fine detail brushes for intricate work and broader brushes for base-coating. Don't forget a palette for paint mixing, a suitable primer, and prepared miniatures.

Preparing Your Workspace

To ensure quality painting, maintain a clean and organized workspace to avoid dust and debris spoiling your work. Use good lighting, like a daylight lamp or lightbox, for effective illumination. Ventilate adequately, particularly when using aerosol primers or sealers, to prevent inhaling fumes.

Basic Techniques

To achieve excellence in miniature painting, mastering fundamental techniques is crucial. Begin by applying a smooth base coat of paint, ensuring complete coverage. Gradually build up colors through layering for depth and highlighting. Use washes or inks to add shadows and define recessed areas. Employ drybrushing to enhance raised details and textures with minimal paint. Lastly, employ fine brushes for detailing intricate elements such as eyes, insignia, and patterns.

Color Theory and Composition

Learn color theory to create visually appealing miniatures. Mix and blend colors effectively for the desired shades and tones. Choose harmonizing color schemes aligned with your miniature's theme. Consider composition elements like balance, contrast, and focal points for a visually striking result.

Finishing Touches

After completing the painting of your miniatures, apply a protective varnish to safeguard them. Create bases with materials like sand or gravel to enhance their appearance. Add details such as static grass, rocks, or decals for a more realistic look. Finally, proudly display your finished miniatures in a display case or on a dedicated shelf to showcase your painting skills.

Okay, now this is the actual penultimate chapter until things really kick off and Chekov's artillery brigade rains hell upon our favorite characters. Make sure to stay tuned for the next chapter to not miss a thing! As always, thanks again to u/SpacePaladin15 for creating this world we've had so much fun digging deeper into, and thanks to u/Acceptable_Egg5560 for cowriting this with me. Just try not to get your account hacked again, that was ass.
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Memory Transcription Subject: Vekna, Startled Investigative Journalist. Date [Standardized Human Time]: October 31st, 2136
Gah, why do they have to make alarms so loud??
Malcos’ whips his head around, looking at an abandoned console as it begins to light up with all manner of alerts and alarms. Many voices start pouring into the room at the same time, each garbled slightly by the console’s obviously older speaker system. Malcos rushes towards it and holds a corded microphone to his mouth. “Stop shouting! One at a time, what in the name of the Herd is going on up there?!”
Despite his attempts, the voices keep pouring in as a nearly incomprehensible mess of voices, but I, and it would seem Malcos as well, can just recognize something about a cloud of something topside. Upon receiving news that Sharnet enacted the first part of her plan, my tail starts to wag behind me, thumping into the side of the vent shaft before I can stop it. Malcos’ ears immediately swivel to my position and I just barely manage to duck away from the vent grate before he gets a look at me. I hold my breath as I listen to the chaos of the room beneath me. That was too close, I need to be more c-
-CHKCHKCHKCHKCHKCHKCHKSCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-
The sudden noise startles me something awful, my chest starting to feel tight. No, I can’t. Just breathe in, hold, out, breathe in- okay that’s all I have time for. New alarms join the already existing one, sounding vastly different from the whines of before. I can just hear the door slide open briefly through the cacophony before a muffled voice yells out, “Sir! There’s a gas of some kind below!”
I crawl back, angling myself just right to get a view of what the guard’s talking about. To my shock, I see a rich purple gas spewing out of every ventilation shaft and flowing like water into the hangar down below. But that means…Sharnet, what did you do?? I quickly lick a finger and hold it up to the flowing wind of the shaft. I can feel it flowing towards the direction of the noise that startled me, meaning that I likely only have a sparse few [seconds] before I’m hit with a face-full of that gas. Given where I am, I can reasonably assume what it’s likely to be.
As can Malcos.
The scarred Venlil bleats exasperatedly and slams his paw on the console. “Oh for Spehk’s Sake!! Guards, clear the catwalks and make sure that these two get masks. They need to be sober for what’s about to happen to them!” Malcos bares his teeth at Vane, who beeps like the coward he always was. Malcos starts walking over to one of the emergency boxes, pulling a mask out of one of them. Aha!! “After leading the journalists right to us, you’d better be glad I’m not killing you myself, Vane. The Exterminators will do far wor-”
As Malcos is just starting to put on his mask, I kick out the ventilation grate and fall down into the room. The occupants barely have time to react before I’ve landed atop one of the guards, quickly pressing my gun to the side of their head and pulling the trigger. To my severe relief, only a buzz emits and the unmarked Exterminator falls to the ground like a bunch of pipes. I roll away as the guard lands, righting myself just in time to get a shot off on the other guard. They, too, fall down to the ground. Now, emergency kit!!
I look around frantically for what feels like an eternity until I spot an unattended one on the wall adjacent. I can vaguely see Vane and Clemmit conspiring over something, but that’s an issue for once I’m safeguarded from who-knows-what-drug that’s about to fill the room. I stand and tear open a rickety, rusted emergency kit, clutching my weapon tightly in my hand as I grab the dusty mask held within. However, just as it separates from its brittle latchings, I feel an intense heat next to my paw and my weapon is blasted away from me. It ricochets off the wall and spins below another console, in the same direction as the source of the blast.
“So you’re one of the journalists, I presume,” Malcos’ gravelly voice growls behind his now-applied mask from across the room, a much more modern-looking plasma pistol clutched in his paw. How did I miss that he was armed? He wasn’t! When did he draw?! “I would ask whether you’re Sharnet or Vekna, but in truth I don’t much care. You both have graduated from annoyance to full-blown threat, and will now be treated as such. I assure you, my age hasn’t impacted my aim. Given how generous of a host I am, I’ll give you a demonstration!”
I just barely manage to duck down as I watch a bolt of plasma hit where my head had just been, followed by two more shots that both hit lower than the last. Thankfully, the mask had fallen with me, so I quickly slip it on…only to realize that it’s obviously designed for Kolshians. Why the Brahk is there a Kolshian mask in here?!? The effect of the anatomical mismatch is that the eye-holes don’t perfectly align with my actual eyes, resulting in most of my periphery being completely eliminated. So this is what it’s like to have forward-facing eyes. Figures I’d die as even more of a predator.
“If you think that I’ll let you or your meddling compatriot leave this place alive, you’re sorely mistaken.” Malcos growls out as I hear his footsteps and whirring brace approach, each pace slow and methodical as if he were toying with prey. “You are not the first I’ve killed in service of this empire, and you will not be the last! Not this paw! The Solgalick’s Eye aerosol will be the least of your issues without a working brain to process it, you meddling idiot!” As he moves closer, I take a deep breath, allowing myself the full cycle this time around.
In, hold, out.
In, hold, out.
…Focus, breathe…
…Calm.
Malcos may think he’s taunting his prey, but all he’s doing is enraging another Predator.
With speed I didn’t know I had, I swing around the side of the console and charge towards Malcos. He attempts to shoot me, but I just barely manage to weave through his shots. No matter his skill, our eyes will always make aiming difficult. I can see him pulling the trigger again as my head connects with his torso, sending the both of us flying backwards towards the observation windows. I can hear the air leave Malcos’ lungs, but I likewise feel a horrible, burning strip across my back.
We both fall down to the ground on opposite sides of what looks like an depressed, open-concept control center. I can hear the older Venlil hack and wheeze as he tries to refill his lungs as I reach a few fingers to my back, trying to ascertain the source of the pain. To my dismay, they return lightly coated with blood, confirming a hit. Thankfully, the shot had been glancing, but that still left me with a nasty burn from the plasma. Bastard.
I manage to stand, pushing the stinging pain of my wound as far back in my mind as I can. Malcos, still wheezing, props himself against a wall-bound console as he glares at me with the furious hatred of a thousand suns. “W-Why You… You have the…audacity?? I’ll kill you myself, you vyalpic dyke!!” I see him start to lift his arm, so I leap across space and tackle him onto the stairs. I hear a shot zip past my shoulder as I wrap my paws around his weapon, fighting desperately to rip the weapon out of his grasp.
“You- Won’t- Win- This!” Malcos cries and he writes and thrusts against me as we wrestle for control of the firearm. Despite my best efforts, he begins to get the better of me as the path of the barrel shakes closer and closer to my head. Once it reaches a point of no return, I quickly dodge in the direction of the barrel and let off my pressure, taking a severe chance that he overshoots and gives me the advantage. I see the barrel whiz past the binocular areas I can see through, and my right ear is nearly singed by the blast.
That’s right, you monstrous bastard, you can’t best a fellow predator!
I quickly moved to wrench the gun from his weakened grip. This is my last chance!! I feel my claws being resisted by an object, and pull with the most force I ever have. The implement goes flying out of his paws, shattering one of the observation windows as it falls to the drug-filled cavern below. Guess the windows were made with silicon glass instead of Lucinsteel. Cheap. I turn my attention towards Malcos, looking as his features betrayed his horror at being bested. I don’t care how bad this makes me, I won’t let you-
Before I can finish that thought, my vision multiplies as I’m hit in the head by a point-blank headbutt from Malcos, the disorientation causing me to lose my balance and fall down to the ground. Gah, that Herd-damned-! By the time I regain enough faculties to look around, I see…nothing? Right, periphery! I quickly swivel my head to scan the room as purple gas starts to pour in from the vents. Lo and behold, there’s Malcos making a break for the door.
Unfortunately, he had been able to get too much of a head start, allowing him to reach the door before I even make it to my feet. He looks back at me after tampering with the control panel, a malicious expression on his scarred face. “Enjoy being locked in here! If Vane isn’t going to take the fall, then I suppose you will! Enjoy your fiery death, Bitch!” He then slams the door shut, likely making it towards the lifts to exit using the same maintenance tunnel we used to get here. His comment makes me realize that Vane and Clemmit are no longer here either, meaning they must have escaped during the fight.
Thankfully, I prepared for such an occasion.
I remember how the vent is a straight shot towards the lifts, as opposed to the twists and turns of the catwalks. If I run through them, I’ll be able to beat Malcos to the lifts. Perhaps I should let him get a whiff of the fumes. With the mask having survived the headbutt, I rush towards the vent and pull myself into it, with slightly more trouble thanks to the burn on my back. Not caring about stealth now, I stand in the large vent and run as fast as I can against the air blowing against me. I Need to beat him there.
It’s only a few [seconds] before I come to the vent, and almost before I can think, I jump kick through and come to a landing… on Malcos’ shoulders. We both go tumbling to the floor, part of my torso almost hanging over the edge of the suspended catwalk. Oh that tingle doesn’t feel good. Malcos grunts as he struggles to right himself thanks to the exhaustion from our efforts, the cavern below us and even our own feet now completely blocked by purple clouds. I can feel myself panting as well, but I don’t care. Malcos needs to go down.
“OUT OF MY WAY!!” Malcos screams as he charges at me this time, his head leveled right for my stomach. That’s right you violent bastard, do that. I muster all the strength I can and jump up, my groin just barely clearing his skull. He stumbles forward in an attempt to stop, and I take the opportunity to tackle him to the ground, my claws slipping under his mask and pulling it off his face. Malcos gasps as he realizes what’s going on, but it’s too late to do anything about it.
“You locked the door and left me alone, did you now?” I hiss venomously in Malcos’ ear, a horrible ecstasy flowing through me at the opportunity to enact all my deepest, predatory desires under the guise of righteous fury. If I have to become a monster to stop a monster, then it’s all worth it. “Very hypocritical, Malcos.”
I keep myself steady on top of him as he tries to squirm away, this time being face down as not to pose another headbutting risk. His arms flail behind him as I hear him take more and more breaths of whatever substance Sharnet released into the vents. I can tell that it’s having an effect, as his movements start to become slower, heavier. As I think about that, though, I begin to realize something alarming. My own are doing the same.
I CAN’T BREATHE!!
I should have expected a shortlung attack with all this, but me being the fool I am, I hoped that it wouldn’t come. I fall off of Malcos as I start to root around in my pouch. I can barely see through the restrictive eye-holes of the mask, so I go off of tactile feeling alone. Nonononono-YES!! I pull out a bulb of my inhalant, the last one I have actually. I quickly seal it with the filter latches in the mask and squeeze. My chest suddenly feels like it’s as big as the cavern itself and I’m allowed to breathe again. Once I have some oxygen in my system, I swivel around to look for our target.
A clearly inebriated Malcos stumbles a fair distance away from me, entering one of the lifts as he slurs something to me that I can’t quite understand. I quickly stand and bolt into the second lift, watching as he makes his way towards the tunnel. However, as I’m descending, I see something unexpected. Far further, towards another set of lifts that went all the way down to the loading area, are Vane and Clemmit. The latter is almost dragging the former towards them due to the differences in mobility, both of them having species-appropriate masks. The Yotul must have managed to get the braces back on him!
I think that I can probably stop them if I make it, but I don’t want to leave Sharnet to deal with Malcos alone. He might be running now, but what will his drug-addled mind do when faced with whatever inescapable obstacle she has cooked up? I briefly look between the two groups before making the clear and obvious decision. If Vane escapes, he escapes. Malcos can Not go free again. I veer in the direction that the predatory overseer goes. He’s surprisingly fast like this.
As he closes in on the tunnel, the gas starts to fill all the way up to the roof of the cavern. It’s so thick that I lose sight of Malcos for a brief moment, thanks in part to the awful visibility from behind the mask. Beats breathing in whatever this stuff is at least. As I near the tunnel as well, I can just make out a silhouette ascending the stairs, the gentle whirring of his brace giving Malcos away. I hasten my pursuit, pushing the limits of my medication as I bound up the inordinately long flight of stairs after him.
He Won't Escape This Time, not if I can help it!!
{-Command Requested: Awaiting Input-}
{-[USERID-11229KMD]: switchTrns_Sub -}
{Oh my God, do you have to look at every single angle of this fight? Get on with it!!}
{...Whatever, just hurry it up. You’re going to get behind on your courses at this rate.}
{-Please Enter Name: [Sharnet] -}
{-Searching… 11639 Matches Found-}
{-Import Timeframe Settings? (Y)/N -}
{-Importing…11 Matches Found-}
{-Import Last Location? (Y)/N -}
{-Importing…1 Match Found-}
{-Play From Last Timestamp? (Y)/N -}
{-Playing…-}
Memory Transcription Subject: Sharnet, Crafty Investigative Journalist. Date [Standardized Human Time] October 31st, 2136
I had to think fast. Malcos was a drug lord, he would have a gun for certain. I either had to pin him in a way that his arms couldn’t grab the gun, or trap him in a way that I would be out of his line of fire! Okay! But he would have to have some experience with violence given his past. Actual experience that I didn’t have, no matter how many times I got angry and lashed out.
That cut out any plan of pinning him down, leaving only trapping. I needed to think about what I have around. The herds had already cleared out, they had knocked over all the guiding ropes and tail poles that organized how pilgrims traveled through the temple. Hm, I can’t use others to take him-
Wait! Rope!!
I dashed towards where a strand was tied to a pillar, my body moving almost as fast as I could think. When building the refugee shelter, Jacob has shown everyone how to make a kind of lasso loop to help haul things up into ceiling. Tie a knot leaving a loop, and pass the other end of the rope through that loop. Pull on the rope, and the newly created lasso would close around whatever was inside. I could set it down where Malcos would run when he exited the passage and pull it tight around his leg when he emerged!
My hands moved fast, finishing the knot at the same time as my thoughts. I carried it next to the exit, laying the trap upon the floor where he would have to step. I would be able to pull him- Wait, even if I pulled from behind the pillar, he would still possibly be able to run towards me to shoot me. No, I need to pull it from somewhere he can’t easily reach.
My eyes cast themselves around the room, taking it all in as I tried to deduce the best position. There were all the pillars out in the foundation area, but their design was such that they couldn’t be climbed on. However, the room itself had an elevated walk-around so people could get another point of view of Solgalick’s statue. High ground, perfect!
I dashed to the access stairs, trailing the rope behind me so as not to disturb the lasso loop. I heard my claws clink against the metal stairs as I climbed. I could feel my chest aching from the exertion, but I couldn’t give up now. Not when I’m so close!
I didn’t know what I was doing, while I also did know. I was acting faster than my conscious mind could keep up, and I had no qualms about that. The faster I could perform my tasks, the better a chance I’d have to catch Malcos. I just finished climbing the stars, so I looked over th-
ALREADY?!?!
A Venlil form that certainly wasn’t Vekna emerged from the tunnel, and I had already pulled the rope to ensnare them by the time I realized what was going on. I watched as the rope tightened the noose around the Venlil’s paw. Hah, th-
They Sidestepped.
Somehow, someway, the Venlil I could reasonably assume to be Malcos managed to get their paw out of the way, stumbling severely upon the completion of their impossible feat. I felt my heart jump into my throat as I scrambled for options. No trap! What now? Can’t get away! He needs to stop! How? Throw something! Knock him out!
I reached into my travel pack, ripping out the first thing that my claws found purchase on and flinging it out in Malcos’ general direction, hoping that it hits. However, I noticed two things as it was sailing. Firstly, its trajectory was looking more towards the statue than Malcos. And secondly?
It’s the Brahking Egg. Of Course it is.
I was helpless to watch as it arced towards the statue, managing to hit right on one of Solgalick’s braziers, the impact strong enough to shatter both the glass jar and the brittle metal neck of the suljiit. The egg plummeted to the ground, but to my surprise, it found my original target, splattering over the stumbling form of Malcos with a sickening crack. He bleated in shock and collapsed to the ground, his ears thrashing in alarm. Finally, it’s gone…now’s not the time for confused feelings!
Barely a [second] after my thought finished, the metal brazier falls from its now baseless-perch, the fall extinguishing the flame held within. Yet despite its similarly brittle appearance, the brazier remained intact as it fell directly on Malcos’ legs, resulting in another sickening crunch. However, the matching scream didn’t follow, Malcos just pawing at the air in front of him, waving his arms in front of his face. A face I only now recognized as having nothing over it. Huh, I thought he’d be smart enough to wear a mask.
I was about to head down to the ground floor to survey the damage, but then another form emerged from the tunnel. They wore what looked like a Kolshian mask, but I could recognize those shades of gray anywhere by now. “Vekna!” I called out to her.
Most likely due to the ill-fitting mask, she had to rotate her entire head to look at me through the eyeholes. Kind of like…I should check on her after this. But for now? “Check and make sure he’s still breathing! I-I can’t let him get off that easily!” She flicked her ears and started towards him, but she didn’t get far before something else caught our attention.
The sound of a shuttle taking off!
An absurd part of me that hadn’t kept up worried the shuttle was Malcos, that I had captured the wrong person, so I looked out of the sunlight slat to watch the horizon. I saw a shuttle take off from the nightward side of the temple and turn sunward to begin its ascent. I remembered the maps of this temple, where it rose had to have been connected to that secret hangar as well as any other normal shuttle bays. And whoever was piloting it must have avoided the drugs, making their escape right now! Speh! I wanted to get them all-
An ear-splitting -KRAKOOMM- sounded from all around me, accompanied by a bright flash of light.
Lightning? Here??
The lightning seemed to carve itself out of the sky as the bolt struck the shuttle in one of its engines, causing it to trail smoke. It began to list more and more sunward until it was just about pointed directly at it before another boom sounded…and the shuttle was gone. Did it…did it engage FTL in-atmosphere? I wasn’t into ships like Vekna was, but something told me that going FTL in the air while pointed towards the sun wouldn’t turn out good.
It was directly into the gravity well of the star. It’ll take a miracle for whoever that was to survive, and I doubt anyone here has that kind of favor. Especially if that’s the bastard I think it was.
I was shaken from my thoughts by the sound of a loud clang from below. Looking down, I saw the faceplate that had adorned the statue cracked in half on the ground. Speh, right, the property damage. I looked up to see how bad it was, only to be further baffled. Under where the second suljiit had been was what looked like a shortsword of some kind, made of the same pristine marble as the…statue…
That face is Definitely Not Venlil. Not even counting the clear nostrils carved into its uncharacteristically angular snout, a third eye stared out from the center of Solgalick’s forehead, shining with a thin red light reflecting from a gemstone in its pupil. One that looked almost exactly like how the temple compound had from above, as if Solgalick Themselves were staring into the soul of everyone within this room, judging. But wait, this statue was supposedly carved before the Federation even got here. What…
…I’m going to have a Lot of questions about this.
For now, though, we needed to continue our plan. I dialed up the High Magister as I flew down the stairs, rushing over to Vekna. She had since discarded her Kolshian-intended mask and was looking between me and…well, everything else. “Sharnet! What was- what’s- did you see the- and then the mask, it-”
Before she could pose another half-question, the call went through and the visage of a tan Venlil stared back at us. Their fur was marked with brown stripes down as far as the camera’s field of vision went. They were backed by two Exterminators, likely agents of Malcos like the ones down in the cavern. Once they caught sight of us, they split their ears in concerned confusion. “Hello? Who is this? How did you get this CIN??”
“Yes, hello, High Magister Yiven?” I asked, not waiting for a response to pan my holonote’s camera down towards the very high, and equally crippled, Malcos at our feet. “As you can well see, we’ve taken care of your boss quite handily. His payouts will no longer grace the local office. In that spirit, I believe that you should call a Code Zero if you know what’s good for you.”
It was still a bit surprising how silent Malcos was. Now that the chaos was finally over, I was able to get a good look at him. His legs were definitely broken, with what looked like a medical brace hanging mangled off his left side. He looked to have a lot of scars, especially on his egg-covered face. I noticed that he was bathed in a red light, seeming to come from a gemstone embedded in the statue’s third eye. It bounced the light from our star down upon him, a terrified look etched on Malcos’ face. Hopefully all those drugs are making him see a fraction of the damnation he’s earned, but for now he needs to face our mortal judgment.
“It-it’s him!” I heard someone say from my holonote, “that’s Malcos!” I turned the screen back towards myself, happy to know I had confirmation of the identity. Instead of the High Magister, though, the masked face of one of the Exterminators took up the screen.
I cleared my throat. “Yes, now i-” I wasn’t even able to finish my sentence before the Exterminator pulled away from the screen and leapt upon their colleague without as much as a moment’s hesitation. A roaring bleat coming from the speaker shortly after, its source without question. “You Brahking Puddle of Speh You have NOTHING now I wanted to do this for CYCLES you Tenets-Damned SPEH none of you can touch her now and I’m gonna INVERT YOUR RIB CAGE!!!”
The two fell out of sight, fighting together on the ground. I shifted an eye to Vekna, my tail raised in questioning. She flicked back her ears, signaling she was just as surprised at this as I was. “I-uh,” she coughed and reached into her belt pack. From it, she procured a set of cuffs, just like she said she had at the very beginning of this entire pursuit. Oh, how time flies. “I’m gonna secure Malcos’ arms, don’t want him to try anything funny.”
Yeah, that’s probably for the best. As she worked on ensuring our target wouldn’t make another grand escape, the sounds of fighting escalated in the background. It was good to see that not every Exterminator was on Malcos’s loyalty, but that revelation still had thrown me off balance in surprise. The screen shifted as the camera was picked up. The High Magister looked at me in shock as he sat back in his chair, his jaw hanging agape. Hopefully he shares that Exterminator’s predisposition. “Did you hear me, Yevin?”
To my relief, the High Magister chuckled in his seat as the Exterminators fought behind him, the weary sort that only those who had lived under duress for some time could produce. "I...hahah, finally. Finally, he's down! Thank you, thank you both. You don't know how long I've been living under the eye of his cronies. I can now get out from under that predator's paw at last!” His tail was wagging behind him as one of the Exterminators stood from the brawl, their pants revealing them as the same one that had rebelled against his Malcos-paid comrade. Looks like we’ve truly won the paw after all! “Y-Yes, give me just a moment! I'll call in a Code Zero right n-"
Before he could get the words out, though, the feed froze. I thought for a moment that the connection might have dropped somehow, but those fears were replaced by dread when I saw the emergency broadcast symbol on my screen. The last time something of the sort had happened was when the Humans first arrived around Venlil Prime, but given how eager the heads were to leave before today?
...I doubt this one will bring as welcome a change of pace.

{FINALLY!!}

{...I hate being right sometimes.}
[First]-[Prev]-[Next]

(F19) Hi! I was diagnosed with asthma almost a month ago and the doctor prescribed me 2 inhalers:

1. Foster 100/6 (with beclametasone and formetorol): 2 puffs in the morning and 2 in the evening.
2. Ventolin (with sulbutamol, so a reliever inhaler): to use a max of 2 puffs in case of an asthma attack during the day.

I already did my 2 evening puffs of Foster, but I still feel breathless and feel chest tightness.
Can I use Ventolin, although it has only passed an hour since I used Foster?

Budesonide, formoterol, fumarate, dihydrate inhalation aerosol.
Please my cats breathing like huffing it’s not too serious as she’s able to be stable it’s just the huffing that’s scary, I need whatever advice I can get. I don’t have funds to take her to the vet.
I have taken her to the vet for the same reasons, ruled out bad heart, parasites, or worms.

Hi All, I’ve had asthma for 30+ years and it’s normally under control, I’ve had IBS for about 3 years and it normally flares up when I eat high for so foods like onions etc so I’m normally able to control it..
I have mixed ibs normally.
This week I’ve had to use my inhalers/puffers and I’ve found my ibs has flared up and I’ve been on the loo slot this week..
Has anybody else got this issue with ventolin??

So I've had this 100 day cough that's going around for around 7 weeks I've been to the doctor's about it around 3 times now, only once was i given anything for it (amoxicillin) after my first visit my 3rd visit was due to the episode of cough syncope (passing out due to coughing) I had a bad coughing fit where I couldn't breath and suddenly woke up to my missus slapping me calling my name. The gp sent me to hospital for emergency ECG and chest x-ray they along with blood tests came back all clear. They are now wanting me to do a CT scan (booked for Monday) heart echo test, lung capacity test and heart rhythm test, the latter to be conducted over a couple of days. The hospital gave me a fit note for work stating restricted duties (I work in a foundry) and at the bottom of this fit note it states that they have advised me not to drive while under investigation and that the standard length for DVLA is 6 months. This has now caused a lot of hassle at work as they have put me on office based duties and have forbidden me to drive onto the premises.
I have now however after speaking with a friend who has had the same cough as me and an uncle who has been a pharmacist for the past 40 years that I should have been prescribed a ventolin inhaler for the cough which could have prevented the episode of cough syncope.
Does anyone know if I have a case with the hospital team that imposed the advice of not driving to be overturned because of my GP not issuing me with an inhaler that could have prevented me from passing out?

So I generally hear two stories related to fiberglass exposure in mattresses.
First, there's the "help I took the cover off my mattress and now my room is covered in shiny dust" type of story. This is the classic story of fiberglass exposure. Many mattresses use inexpensive firesocks with an internal fiberglass core as a fire barrier. Over time, this internal fiberglass core can escape the firesock. Then, when a mattress's outer cover is removed, these fiberglass fragments are released into the air and can contaminate a bedroom or home.
This is not great. These fragments are very light and easily aerosolized and can distribute widely in a person's home. This means you might find fragments far from the mattress itself. In my own experience with fiberglass exposure in a guest room, I found this at the tops of bookshelves, on the blades of a ceiling fan, and clinging to the texture of spackled walls.
Second, there's the "help I DIDN'T take the cover off my mattress and I'm STILL seeing shiny dust!" This is somewhat less common. In my experience, the shiny dust in many of these situations turns out to be polyester or household dust.
However, I have seen fiberglass in these situations as well. This is troubling, because most evidence suggests that fiberglass shouldn't be able to escape a thicker outer mattress cover unless this has been ripped or damaged in some way. I've actually wondered if this scenario represents fiberglass contamination on the manufacturing floor, and the bits of fiberglass people are seeing in their home are fragments that attached to the outer cover in the factory from a contaminated workspace.
Regardless, I've now seen credible reports in both situations. If you're at all concerned about fiberglass exposure in your own home, then you should get a sense of what this looks like.
EXAMPLES OF FIBERGLASS CONTAMINATION
The best way to check your bedroom or home for fiberglass is to use a bright flashlight. Typically people use the flashlight on their phones, but an LED headlamp or other bright light source will work just as well. You'll want to dim the overhead lights and shine this flashlight on all surfaces - even surfaces you might not expect to have contamination. Fiberglass fragments will show up as short, straight, sharp-appearing strands that will shine under direct light.
You might also notice a characteristic "whiskered" appearance on the exposed firesock itself.
Firesock w/ fiberglass - Here's an image showing this "whiskered" appearance.
Another firesock w/ fiberglass - Here's a similar image with a different firesock.
Video of fiberglass fragments under bright light - Notice the short, sharp fragments here.
A recent thread from the other subreddit with video - Again, notice the short, reflective fragments.
General image showing what a firesock looks like - This is actually a fiberglass-free firesock.
Another general image of a firesock - It's not clear if this firesock uses fiberglass.
A Youtube video showing glass fiber - Maybe the best video I've seen on this.
CLEANING FIBERGLASS CONTAMINATION
And now the big question - if you see fiberglass, what should you do?
First, maybe walk into another room and take a deep breath. Cleaning fiberglass and decontaminating a room is going to be a little irritating, but it shouldn't be the end of the world. Here are the steps I took to cleaning this in my own home.
(At this moment, I think these are probably best practices, though I am not a cleaning professional and there might be better methods here. If I become aware of these, I will update this post.)

1. Personal protection. You should wear a mask (an N95 or respirator would be best). This will prevent you from inhaling glass fiber that might be aerosolized in the cleaning process. You could also consider wearing a disposable Tyvek suit to protect your clothing. I did not do this, but it's not an unreasonable precaution. Also consider protective eyewear.
2. Cover your mattress. If you've removed the cover - put it back on. If it already has a cover and it's leaking fiberglass and/or torn, then you might buy a total mattress encasement and put this on. This will help prevent more fiberglass from escaping and contaminating your home.
3. Close AC Vents and open windows. The cleaning process is likely to disturb some amount of glass fiber, and you probably don't want this in your AC intake or vents.
4. Consider purchasing a HEPA-based Air Purifier. So I like air purifiers in a general sense. American indoor air quality is rather poor, and there's some evidence that air purifiers improve sleep and well-being. But in this case, running a large-room air purifier is going to help catch and contain aerosolized fibers dislodged in the cleaning process.
5. Vacuum every surface. Here's where the cleaning starts. You're going to want to use a HEPA-filtered vacuum and vacuum every conceivable surface. Go slowly and vacuum carpets, bare floors, soft surfaces, couches cushions, etc. You can use a wand attachment on walls and tables. The goal here is to vacuum and contain as much of the glass fiber as possible. I've also heard concerns that low-quality or bagless vacuum cleaners may be suboptimal and actually spread fiber around a room so maybe consider a newer HEPA-filtered vacuum if you can?
6. Wipe down every surface. Here you should use cheap or disposable microfiber cloths. You might also consider wetting these slightly to capture dust and fibers, although I don't think that's necessary on the highly porous disposable microfiber cloths.
7. Check the room with a bright light and repeat. You're likely to have missed some fibers. Take note of where these are and repeat the process. Then do it again. And again. I was able to contain about 95% of fibers on the first day and then periodically cleaned and checked the room for weeks afterward.
8. What about clothes? Good question. I'm not totally sure on this. I've heard of people washing contaminated clothes and finding glass fibers in their washer and drier. I did not see any evidence of this, but it might be a good idea to toss heavily contaminated clothes or bedding. I've also seen some advice that recommends attempting to dissolve fibers with vinegar soaks, but I'm not sure this will be effective or acidic enough for this purpose. You should also check your washedrier after use for remnant fibers.
9. What about carpets? Also good question. It's possible that carpets may need to be discarded. I didn't see evidence of fiber after I vacuumed four or five times, but it's possible that there may be remnants fragments there. Still, I've not seen evidence of this.
10. What about AC intakes? Yeah I hear you. I am not aware of any way you can realistically clean AC vents and ducts by yourself. If you're concerned about this, you may need to talk to an AC cleaning service with the tools for this. These services are usually a few hundred dollars.

Bottom line: It is possible to clean a room and remove most glass fibers with a HEPA-filtered vacuum. I'd recommend using a mask or respirator, opening windows, and running an air purifier.
Here's a helpful comment related to this from the other subreddit. Great point on lint rollers here.
OTHER FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Should I be concerned about my health?
Yeah this is the other big question. I'll try to summarize the available data here. Please be aware that this summary is intended as educational material and not medical advice. If you have concerns about specific health problems then you should speak to a physician about these things.
First, here's a quick discussion on this from the Washington Department of Health. Most notable on this page is this summary of possible Long-Term Effects from studies of occupational exposure:

"In 2000, the National Academy of Sciences reviewed studies of fiberglass manufacturing workers and concluded that "...glass fibers do not appear to increase the risk of respiratory system cancer." In 2001, the International Agency for Research on Cancer said that "glass wool", which is a form of fiberglass, is not classifiable as a human carcinogen. Deaths from lung diseases, including lung cancer and mesothelioma, in groups of workers involved in the manufacture of glass wool, are not consistently different from what is found in the United States general population."

Here's a similar summary from the Einstein College of Medicine.
Here's a longer summary from the CDC's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
Here's the CDC's Tox Profile on Fiberglass with a 300-page reference document. This document summarizes a huge amount of studies and reviews data from animal and human exposure. Here's a select quote:

"In summary, studies of workers involved in the manufacture of continuous glass filament, glass wool, and rock and slag wool provide inadequate evidence for carcinogenicity in humans. A number of reviews of the fibrous glass cohort mortality and case-control studies concur with this conclusion (ACGIH 2001; Hesterberg and Hart 2001; IARC 1988, 2002; Lee et al. 1995; NIOSH 1977; NRC Subcommittee on Manufactured Vitreous Fibers 2000; Wilson et al. 1999). No evidence has associated inhalation exposure to these materials with nonrespiratory cancers."

Following this, here's a quick OSHA Summary on Carcinogenicity. This is probably best interpreted to mean that right now, there is insufficient evidence to say that these fibers are carcinogenic in human populations. This is reassuring (as it means that glass fibers don't appear to function like asbestos), but it's important to understand that this is also doesn't mean that fiberglass is totally safe. It just means there is insufficient evidence to say that these cause cancer based on the available human data.
And here's a case report of a 23-year old man with some symptoms (dry cough) and CT findings after fiberglass exposure. However, these symptoms and findings resolved after cessation of exposure.
More specifically, here's a study on glass fibers used in mattresses. This study looked at four mattresses and found fiberglass in two of them. Here's a summary from the discussion:

Our investigation confirmed the presence of fiberglass in two of the four tested mattress covers. The fiberglass was evident in layers that were accessible beneath outer zipper layers (Figure 1), presenting a relatively easy route of exposure. The presence of fiberglass was not disclosed on the labels of the FG-4 mattress, leaving consumers unaware of its presence. Fiberglass was disclosed on the label of FG-3, though not in the most prominent flammability section (“law label”), which is required to specify filling materials only [10].

So what should I take from this?
Good question. Here's my interpretation. Based on many studies and approximately fifty years of data, fiberglass doesn't appear to be carcinogenic in human populations. This is a good thing. However, this doesn't mean it's totally safe either. I wouldn't recommend sleeping in a room with large amounts of glass fiber. Similarly... I don't think it should be used in mattresses, and especially not in mattresses with easily removed zip-off covers.
And again, if you have specific medical concerns here, you should talk to a doctor about these.
What about pets?
I'm not sure. Pets are generally closer to the ground, might inhale more fibers, and have very different lungs. It's possible that glass fibers might effect them differently.
What brands use fiberglass fire barriers?
Too many. Generally my rule of thumb is this - if a brand isn't willing to make a strong statement on NOT using fiberglass in their products, then I do not trust them. You should also know that "quilted" top models are less likely to use fiberglass fire barriers (and typically don't have zippers or removable covers anyway), but this isn't universally true.
Otherwise, Amazon brands, NectaDreamcloud, and Casper have been the big offenders here.
Will the tag always say fiberglass?
Sadly no. Many brands won't list fiberglass on tags, or will disguise it with other names.
I haven't taken the cover off my mattress - should I be concerned?
So yeah, there's some debate here. I've seen reports and talked to people that report finding fiberglass in their homes despite never removing a mattress cover. That said, the only study looking at this did not find fiberglass migration to the outer layers of a mattress. My opinion is that this an intact cover represents a much lower risk situation, but if you're at all concerned, then you should use a bright light and check your room and the area surrounding your mattress.
I don't see fiberglass in my room - should I be concerned?
Probably not. Again, I haven't seen a ton of evidence regarding fiberglass escaping intact mattress covers. This is possible (and again, I have heard some reports), but I've not seen a lot of evidence and I'm not sure exactly how this is happening. If you're concerned that your mattress has fiberglass, but you don't see contamination, I'd purchase a full mattress encasement to add another barrier just to be safe. Or look for a new mattress.
Does this topper have fiberglass?
Probably not, no. Fiberglass is typically contained in fire socks. Toppers do not usually have fire socks. If it's just foam, you should be okay. If it came with a cover but there's no fire sock inside the cover, then you're probably still okay. Most toppers aren't required to have fire barriers.
Where can I read more about this?
Prior to recent events on mattress, I was compiling reports of fiberglass exposure with the "fiberglass" post flair. You should be able to search for similar cases there. I'll also periodically update this document to provide more information, more examples, and more studies.

Weird experience but I used my typical blue ventolin inhaler this morning however when I used it immediately I felt something off. Like crystals or a bunch of tiny hard things. Coughed a bunch and little green hard things came out?! I keep my inhaler covered and it is only 1 month over expiry date. Sprayed again and it was fine. What in the world happened?!

I'm a 45yo male in the UK. I've had asthma my entire life. I used to suffer with it quite badly as a child - hospital stays weren't uncommon, I had a nebuliser at home, etc. At that time I was prescribed a brown preventer inhaler (Becotide) which I took two puffs of twice a day, and the usual blue inhaler (Ventolin) to deal with flair ups. In my teens my condition improved drastically though. Since then I've maintained a repeat prescription for Ventolin, but it's infrequent that I ever need it - usually only when I'm ill with a bad cold or chest infection. I also take a puff before exercise.
This week I've had my first asthma check up in a while. These have always been routine in the past, but this time was different. While my condition hasn't deteriorated, they've changed my entire medication plan based on my age. Apparently the Ventolin I have now is antiquated treatment and there are better, more modern drugs which I should be on in order to prevent any age based deterioration. I'm being told I'll now be on these drugs (or something like them) for good.

• Fostair 100/6mg inhaler (beclometasone dipropionate / formoterol fumerate dihydrate)
  • One dose twice per day
• AeroChamber Plus Flow-Vu (to be used with the above)
• Fostair NEXThaler 100/6mg powder inhaler
  • dose as above, intended for use when travelling

So, I've got a few thoughts and concerns here and I'm wondering what other Asthma sufferers can offer in terms of their own experiences. It's great that I was given such a thorough check up and that the future of my condition is being considered. But I received no information about these drugs during the appointment. After collecting the medication I received a text which told me in rather stark terms that since I'm now on steroidal meds I'm apparently at risk of an "adrenal episode" - it came with a PDF of a wallet sized card attached which I'm now apparently supposed to carry with me at all times. It has instructions on it for other people on how to deal with me if (I guess) I collapse and have one of these episodes. Now, I'm assuming the chances of this are super minimal. But that's a hell of a thing to suddenly receive by text. That prompted me into looking up the drugs and discovering that they're corticosteroids. Suddenly I'm confronted with warnings that the possible side effects include a range of things such as a weakened immune system, bruising, skin thinning, and increased risk of glaucoma, diabetes and osteoporosis. Again, I'm going to assume that these are unlikely, but still... all things I feel should have been explained to me during my appointment.
I'd like to hear from people who have some experience with these drugs. I'm not about to not take prescribed medication, but I would like to get an impression of the experiences other people have had with them. Maybe just how common or uncommon certain side effects appear to be. I kind of want to know what I should possible expect basically. I've been asked to keep a peak flow record for the next 8 weeks and then go back to the surgery to follow up. The nurse told me that she expects to see an improvement in my peak flow results over time, even though I don't feel any struggle now. By the time this next appointment comes around I guess I may have some experience of my own to judge from. But right now I'm feeling a little bit wary of what I'm getting into.